Fandom Aspects: Memes and Gifs

I feel like this has really only become a phenomenon in the last five years or so, probably because of the prevalence of digital images and video which make it easy to make a screen capture of something and stick some text on it. And then websites like Tumblr and Cheezburger make it easy to share them with the world.

I would say if this isn’t the fastest growing area of fandom, it certainly feels like it. Things pop up on Twitter and Facebook, on Pinterest. People send me links in chat or email.

In some ways, I really enjoy the trend. It’s fun to see something witty or something that reminds me of my favorite part of something, and it doesn’t take much time for creator or recipient.

On the other hand, it’s really easy to get eaten by these things, and then, when you look back at the time, you find that you have accomplished nothing and feel unsatisfied. So.